Communication and Information Sector's news service

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koďchiro Matsuura, today condemned the murder of Mario Rolando López Sánchez, a producer for the Guatemalan station Radio Sonora, on 3 May in Guatemala City.

“I condemn the murder of Mario Rolando López Sánchez,” declared the Director-General. “It is particularly disturbing that 3 May, World Press Freedom Day, should become a day of mourning due to another violent act by people who resort to guns to silence their critics. I trust that the Guatemalan authorities will do their utmost to arrest and bring to justice the culprits of this crime.”

Mario Rolando López Sánchez, 64, was hit by several gunshots a few metres from his home. Head producer for Radio Sonora, he also co-produced for the last 14 years a daily programme about politics, entitled Casos y Cosas de la Vida Nacional (Cases and things concerning the life of the nation). According to Arnulfo Agustín Guzmán, Director of Radio Sonora, the murder cannot be considered an ordinary crime as the victim’s car and personal effects were not stolen.

UNESCO is the only United Nations agency with a mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom. Article 1 of its Constitution requires the Organization to “further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.” To realize this the Organization is requested to “collaborate in the work of advancing the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass communication and to that end recommend such international agreements as may be necessary to promote the free flow of ideas by word and image…”